[The Darklord]

Thankyou for clarifying that for me.

If you think it would help then do it.  Anything to make it easier for people to develop their characterisation has to be worth a try.  Just a thought, would it be worth running some articles on character creation and roleplaying generally for those who would be interested in either contributing or learning?  Not how to manuals but different peoples thoughts on the creation process.

[alec42]

I'm not sure if this is the right venue, but I'm quite happy to chunter on about my current character.

The concept for Tim Drake came from thinking about the idea of who in their right mind would actually go to Derrarkshire. Seriously - you get killed there! Eventually I decided that only a refugee would be desperate enough to try it, so I came up with the idea of a game keeper living on the Errowake border. The war would have been so disruptive for him that he would really have no choice but to leave. I wanted him to be young, but not naive; scarred slightly by the to and fro of national conflict but still open to new ideas and experiences. I find it difficult playing characters with totally entrenched ideas - I feel you need to be able to have in character room to manouver. The issues I wanted to work out with Tim were pretty basic: how would he eat? how would he make friends and settle down? would he be able to adjust to a new place? Obviously I wasn't adverse to getting involved in 'plot' - no character should be totally oblivious to their surroundings after all. 

The name was stolen directly from Frank Miller. Tim Drake was the third Robin who redeemed Batman afer his second protege Jason Todd died at the hands of the Joker.

Now for the in character tit bits:

- You may have bought rabbit or venison from Tim at the Bethan Wellaby market.

- Tim live rough at the moment in the forest; it's getting cold.

- Apparently Tim cured a lame horse with the power of this mind. If asked he'll say he just relocated its foreleg but everone who was there swears he healed it by some sort of supernatural power.
   
Will that do?

[Scaryfatmaniffer]

Here is a synopsis of one of my characters - now deceased at the hands of the boyz.

Frederick Limner - based on several hypotheses I was considering but primarily "What if Hannibal Lecter was a good guy" - there is a wonderful quote from Silence of the Lambs "Lecter always preferred to eat the rude".

There are some interesting taboos that still seem to function in the quasi medieval fantasy world of Derarkshire - murder for fairly minor misdemeanours is perfectly acceptable and yet things that are less " criminally serious" , incest, rape cannibalism are still considered with equal abhorranceto today. I wonder why? 
Anyway what if a character was essentailly a fairly allright bloke but who had no fear, emotion or conscience hated waste to the point ofeating those he had killed. Lecter cooked victims but was a doctor.
How about playing a Cook? with healing and doctor connections from a far eastern country trailing those who had harmed his little sister.
This is almost entirely Hannibal Lecter except for the fact that he does not particularly enjoy harming people, and is a cook rather than a doctor.The cook aspect was based on several ideas - one day I would like to run the Inn again and relieve Tom, Scott etc. of OOC responsibility, I enjoy cooking occassionally and thought it would be nice to bring recipes to quiet times (something to do for God's sake - when there is no combat happening, that can involve others).

Keep in mind - what to do in quiet times and an interesting past or personality. Fit the skills around the character.

I then sat down watched SIlence of the lambs again with a mind to the rulebook - what skills would I need. Strength was a must, cut throat and strike to injure. I didn't need gross damage with a weapon 3 with a knife should suffice I then went through foreign languages, cook, first aid and surgery. Plant Lore seemed a good idea as he is a herbalist and then a few free skills.

I find this by far the best way to play a character. Sometimes I think pick an idea then play it for an event without stats and then stat him up after you get a feel for what they are like.

Chris

[ryan666]

Ok. Feyln ( His second name he dosn't even know nor does he want to). Feyln is a dark elf with every aspect of a general drow; lying,backstabbing,cunning and dangerous. However there are a few differences. Feyln unlike most drow has managed to make a strong friendship with someone who he is not planning on slitting the throat of the second they turn their back. His name is Kep. Feyln 's mother was your average drow woman despised all other races and most of her own. She had 3 daughters Quenthel, Feryl and Masindra, each in competition with one another to be their mother's favourite daughter. Feyln's mother then had a one night stand with a drow male from an inn she came across in the underworld named "the flaming serpent". As the result of this one night stand she then gave birth to a son. She was most displeased to have a son. At first she considered sacraficing him to her goddess but eventually decided against the idea and so left him on the surface of the southern island of balcoth.
An old dark elf named Arken Banre made his way back to the underground colony at night time (day light isnt fun for drow) he had been on the search for some components for a spell he was working on. He happened to come across Feyln wrapped in a dark cloth. He would usually just walk straight past an abandoned child like most drow, it was a common thing for mothers to abandon their children if they were male. However he sensed something in Feyln different and took the child in. Arken raised him until he was about 60 years old still quite young. Arken worked in a school of wizardry teaching drow males. He also had a small connection with the matron mothers of the underworld. Some dark things happened to Feyln after that period of time (if you wish to know you will have to ask him yourself but dont expect much of an answer). Feyln is slightly different to most drow as i said he has actually managed to make friends with out slitting their throats. He has left the underworld and the southern island of balcoth after bad times. Met with a man named Kep and they built a strong friendship this fell to pieces when both friends were split up in a fierce battle against an undead army. By this time feyln had managed to cope with the thing that land dwellers call day light. But still is slightly alarmed by loud noises and bright lights dont go down to well. Feyln managed to track his old friend down to derakshire the most unlikely of places.

- Feyln is talented in rogue skills and is a spy for his close friends and any one else with a few silvers in their pocket.

- Also has a knowledge of the void and enjoys to cast spells, discussing spells with him could be interesting?

- Keps second hand man and very close friends dont intend on losing each other again so where Kep is you will usually find feyln.

- Feyln is currentlly missing and under going some of his own problems.

Wrote this in an I.T lesson at school whilst very bored so dont know if its what you are looking for  Ryan

[Artemisia]

Following discussion  with Chris about introducing characters, here is the sort of information you would (now) easily find out about my current character. She was inspired by a painting I have loved since art college (see little piccy on the left) and originally designed so that I would have a reason to be sitting around in the Wolf drawing and painting.
Artemisia Gentileschi- daughter of famous Talian Artist Ozario Gentileschi (based upon actual historical artists), travelled widely, had to 'entertain' most of father's clients and gradually ended up doing most of his paintings for him. Oops, father was 'killed by bandits', when entering Derakshire, so Arte stayed at the Inn whilst contemplating her future. Real motive for staying in this God forsaken place? Having  rejected idea of any relationship or dependence on a man, she gradually fell in love with the Inn's owner, Steve, but kept this hidden for over a year until the recent tragic events. (I also kept it hidden as I wasn't sure this was 'allowed' and might not be playing according to the 'rules'- but now I am wiser and have learnt that if it is justified by the context and characters -stuff upsetting the boys with emotional stuff- then it has a place -but I was unsure, so I ran it by the GM before bringing it into current plot.) Actually having to play unrequited, hidden passion for over a year was tough .
During her time at the inn she has produced the art works adorning the walls, a commission for the local abbey and sells designer catfur trimmed clothes in Cantorbridge, and has also grown into a stronger individual with greater fighting prowess and interest in understanding what is happening. Recently, Arte is spending much more time talking with other characters and collecting information helpful to Steve RIP (sniff), Kep and future plotwriting.
Personally, I also have two more characters ready to roll out (I never assume that Arte will last an event, as she does tend to want to dangerously debate with daemons and fight alongside the Boyz), but the starting point for both is -what can I do in down-time? I try to find opportunities to draw or make stuff to feed back into the roleplay, and if this can be done in character, even better.
But who knows in which direction she will go? I haven't decided yet, will find out as I roleplay - She can lead the way.

[The Darklord]

Atemisa just won my nomination for roleplayer of the year with that introduction.  I love the idea of someone playing unrequited love and not actually telling the person out of character that its going on - pure roleplay and no glory seeking, great stuff.

[Artemisia]

Thank you Darklord, I am honored.
-and it continues - after a mere hour of requited love, followed by tragedy, poor old Arte now has to cope with the consequences- alone? God, I love this hobby.
(My hubby warns that if I carry on with emotional stuff like this, the boys might throw me out and insist that all female roles are played by men dressed as women, as in Shakespeare.)

[The Darklord]

Nonsense I say, bring on the melodrama, unleash the convoluted plot twists and give us the angst!!!!!!!!!

[Artemisia]

Oooh you gorgeous man - when are you going to come and play with us again?
Mind you,  in the last couple of events, it was frustrating trying to mix light and dark plot in a potent display of chiaruscurio - the light areas seem much harder to play without awkwardness than the dark, tragic areas. I imagine how far you can go is dependent on the players - without reaching the extremes of porn or snuff movies?- but maybe that was because this was male/female relationship stuff rather than good/evil?
So I take my hat off to Scott who rose to every twisted challenge I threw at him. It was huge fun.
Am I getting this now- treat the plot as a creative process and respond to the choices made by the player, the eventual outcome may be completely different from the intended one? - a bit like art work - listen to the work and respond. Hard work but hugely satisfying - a bit like going into freefall - scary

[mwknowles]

Hi all, Im Michael (as you can see by my rather uninteresting avatar name) and i suppose my claim to fame is going to school with Chris (the year below i might add - not that old!)  I too have been a long time Role-player (ovr 20 years not) and all other kinds of fantasy and Sci-fi genre fun included - although not a lot of LRP - not many oppotunitues since escaping, i mean leaving Skeg.

Hope to come and experience Chris' wonderful LRP setup some time this year!

Cheers   

[blackbelt hamster]

hi to all,
My name is simon, i am 35 and a former skeg resident.been away from skeg since 1993, at university, then various jobs.
i am soon to be returning to skegness (next week or so) and i am hopeing that I can find some lovely people to start up roleplaying with.

been into tabletop rpg since 1983. all kinds of games, but currently hooked on conan d20, and sla industries, but love to play anything.
i am also a boardgame fan, axis & allies, britania, munchkin.
i also do paintball as i see from the forum that some of you do, i have my own kit, which includes a 2008 proto matrix rail paintball marker. i have been a walkon player for about 1 year at the yorkshire paintball centre near selby in north yorkshire.

although i don't really wargame i do enjoy making terrain/buildings for wargames, so if anyone out there wants some stuff making for a good price let be know.
I noticed that many of you are into live roleplay, i could also have a go at making weapons for you if you are interested, sorry i don't know if you just buy them or make them yourselves.

would love to hear back from anyone who is rpging in skeg and would like i new player or maybe if you twist my arm (not literally) a bit, a DM.
please post replies, thanks bh (simon)
 
 
 

[Scaryfatmaniffer]

Hi Simon -

Chris here - the poor unfortunate that runs Carpe Fatum.

Primarily at the moment due to terribly limited time restraints carpe fatum is primarily live roleplay - although various other members (myself included) do lots of other stuff - to my knowledge there are two groups of local tabletop roleplayers in the area that meet regularly - speak to Dean Simpson (deanmon23@hotmail.com) for more details.
We also do quite  abit of wargaming - mainly warhammer fantasy battle, mordheim and lord of the rings - more through ease of knowing the rules than anything else and a few of us meet up quite regularly for board games - got into runebound recently but we also do a few other things fire and axe, fury of dracula, warrior knights, haven't done axis and allies for a while but it's pretty ace.
I spend most of my time trying to co-ordinate the Larping - we are running three things at the minute (well will be starting again when the weather gets a bit more clement - April??)
Derarkshire stuff - think medieval Englandish with magic - tavern nights and all day events.
Galamash - a new project with linear adventures + tavern nights etc - sort of hammer horror transylvania in a  medieval setting.
House of Erasmus - modern day secret society - trying to avert the end of the world and the schemes of the devil.
Feel free to give me a ring some time and at the very least we can grab a pint somewhere and I can fill you in on who is doing what - at least I can spout bollocks and tell anecdotes for a while. Chris (01754 811125)
Nice to hear from you
Chris

[blackbelt hamster]

Hi chris,
thanks for getting back to me.
i had a feeling there might not be much tabletop rpg going on due to the dates on the posts i found on the forum, but it was worth a go.
you sound like you have your hands full with the larp.lol
i wanted to get in touch as i don't actually know anyone in skegness and this seemed like the best place to find people with similar interests to me.
i did here that many moons ago there was a group of rpgers that met at the vine, but i did not know them and i still had friends in boston who i gamed with, unfortunatly that was long ago.

it would be great to meet up, i will give you a ring as soon as i get settled in skeg, as i said before will be in the next week or so.
if you happen to speak to any of the rpg playing people please would you mention my interest to them.
thanks, simon

[The Darklord]

Hi Black belt Hamster - Glad to hear from another roleplayer.  The group who met at the vine would have been us (well some of us) and some proper grown up wargamers as well.  Thats been defunct for a few years now.  Unfortunatly I am not around much any more, I just get back to skeg for the occasional event but most of em are pretty friendly (wierd but friendly) you should be able to find someone whos willing to have a go at most of the games you mention and if you do find yourself fancying a go at larp then carpe fatum is a good place to be as well.

[blackbelt hamster]

hi darklord,
thanks for the reply.
it would be great to meet some old school roleplayers, i would love to be able to join a group as a player as i've done nothing but dm for years now, but i would be happy to dm if i was needed.
not sure if live roleplay is for me but thanks anyway.
if you speak to any of the rpgers in skeg please pass on my interest in meeting them,
sure we'll meet soon,thanks, simon